A draw at home to bottom club Parma on Saturday extended Inter Milan’s winless streak in Serie A to five games and the post match reaction showed how battle lines are being drawn at the club.
Inter boss Roberto Mancini was furious at his players’ attitude after the Saturday’s draw left them joint ninth alongside Genoa and 10 points out of a European League place.
In his post match press conference Mancini cancelled the players traditional Easter Sunday day off saying:
“Sadly this is not a good year for us and I’m sorry that instead of getting better the situation’s actually got worse. The lads need to get their heads down and keep working. We’ll train tomorrow. But we need to change things completely if we want to win.”
Mancini was not the only one disappointed with the team’s performance on Saturday. Sporting director Piero Ausilio went a step further saying that the club are evaluating “who is worthy of wearing the shirt”.
“There is disappointment and something that goes beyond that,” Ausilio told Inter Channel.
“We’re all very angry but will try to make Inter something different from now onwards. We were lacking character and, in Serie A, you’re not going to beat anyone without that, not even Parma.
“If players want to be worthy of this shirt, they must play better and make home advantage count.
“We do not intend to run away from our responsibilities. Straight away we must realise what needs to be done. We have an important game coming up against Verona and there’s no time for proclamations.
“There are difficulties that go beyond what we had expected, but woe betide anyone who gives up.
“We are already working with Mancini to prepare Inter of the future. This is why I say we are evaluating who is worthy of wearing this jersey and who is not.
“If someone thought the season was already over, then they are sorely mistaken. This squad is every bit as good as the clubs above us in the table, apart from Juventus. In individual terms, we’ve got everything we need.
“Of course, they must also realise what it means to be an Inter player.”
Relations between the front office and dressing room have deteriorated so much that club owner Erick Thohir is now threatening further punishment against the players according to TuttoSport:
“Without Europa League will Inter arrange some games during the same period of time that European cup would start. Erick Thohir take a decision that reduces the players summer vacation to it’s minimum, which means three weeks. But there is more: If they doesn’t win against Verona, Mancini might decide that the team will have two training session every day until the end of the season”.
When Inter brought Mancini back to replace Walter Mazzarri, Inter fans were dreaming of a return to the glory days of Mancini version 1, when he led Inter to three titles and two Coppa Italia wins. But this is a different league and club than when Mancini was first at Inter. I
Serie A clubs do not have the money they had during Mancini’s first time around, and even if they did Inter have an owner in Thohir who is reluctant to invest heavily in the club. Add Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations and it is impossible for Inter to spend their way out of this crisis.
It was only five years ago in Spain when two goals from Diego Milito helped propel Jose Mourinho’s side to a treble that included a Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
The Inter fans have been extremely patient since that night in the Santiago Bernabéu as they have watched their club side into mid-table mediocrity.
What is frustrating to the Nerazzurri fans is that the club seems to have lost its way, and there seems to be no apparent plan to return Inter to its former glory,
The logical move is to use some of the good young talent Inter had a build a new club around them. In striker Mauro Icardi and midfielders Mateo Kovačic and Xherdan Shaqiri, Inter have three of the best young talents in Europe. Add in goalkeeper Francesco Bardi and the Nerazzurri have four players to build a club aroud.
But that takes patience and that is something that Mancini and Yhohir don’t have. Instead of rebuilding with youth, they are looking for the quick fix by attempting to pry Yaya Toure from Manchester City this summer.
The soon to be 32-year-old Toure is wanted by Mancini and vice-president Javier Zanetti has declared that they will do everything they can to bring Toure to Milan.
“He’s a world-class player. We are talking about a great champion who Mancini knows well.
“We must respect certain parameters but we will do everything possible to make him happy within those parameters.”
Toure is a world class player, but he is 32 and his signing cannot close the gap to Juventus by himself. And to top it off, in order to sign him Inter will have to sell at least one, if not both, of Icardi and Kovacic.
In my opinion signing Toure is not the answer. Instead they need to rebuild around their young talents.
What do you think Inter needs to do to get back to challenging for titles?
